Tell us a bit about yourself and how Yep Kitchen came about.
I’m Tom, I spent 10 years working in Montessori education in Beijing, before moving back to the UK to follow my passion and build a business in food.
Growing up in the UK, my perceptions of Chinese food were as you might expect for someone that grew up here, Chinese takeaways, chicken balls, prawn toast (which I still love by the way), and sweet and sour sauce on everything. I then spent 10 years in Beijing ripping up every perception I had and developed a passion so strong, I turned it into a business. Yep Kitchen’s mission is to showcase the powerful and diverse flavours of China through a range of incredibly versatile and unique chilli oils and ferments.
Since launching, we’ve seen that the UK is definitely ready to explore different Chinese flavours, with our products gaining listings in over 100 stores across the country from Scotland to Cornwall. People are loving the Sichuan heat and we couldn’t be happier to be spreading it!
Do you have a favourite sauce?
If we exclude the Yep Kitchen line up, my favourite sauce is Jeow Som, it’s a super spicy and sour sauce from Laos with loads of fresh garlic, Thai chillies, coriander and fish sauce, I love it poured over medium rare steak and rice, unreal! Otherwise, Yep Kitchen Garlic Chilli Oil with Beef is number 1.
What's your favourite condiment chilli oils aside.
Sadly, this product is no longer in production as Two Nods Nut Butter closed up shop earlier this year, but their Jalapeño and Cashew butter was on another level. Cashew butter is much smoother than peanut butter and without the annoying separation of the oils, then with crunchy jalapeño flakes stuffed inside, it was seriously good. We bought 6 jars when they closed and finished the last one a few weeks back, very sad times.
If you could get Yep Kitchen to any one person, who would it be?
Easy, Fuchsia Dunlop, she’s Queen of Sichuan cuisine outside of China and massively respected within the country for her dedication to showcasing Sichuan cuisine with the world. I would absolutely love for her to try our products.
Any exciting plans in the making?
We do, unfortunately the exact details of which can’t be disclosed just yet, one thing we’ve learned on this journey is to not speak to soon, it’s such a fast-paced industry and things can change in a flash! But we can say that we’re working on a new product that will be available in a major retailer and it doesn’t come in a jar, we’ll leave the rest for you to work out!
